Growing up I was a huge fan of retro music . I had a record player in my room with a stack of old vinyl 45’s.

Besides Elvis Presley and Ricky Nelson, the music of Jan & Dean filled my playlist from high school through college. If you haven’t experienced Jan & Dean they have a surfer Beach Boys vibe that fueled my upbeat personality.

“The Little Old Lady from Pasadena “, Surf City” and “ Deadman’s Curve” are some of their better known hits. Unfortunately, Deadman’s Curve hit too close to home in 1966 when Jan Berry had a tragic car wreck a year after the song’s release.

Driving down the highway today, torrential rain is obscuring my view and making what most of us consider a mundane task a life threatening experience. So how do we respond in life when the storms start rolling in? Driving along, living our life with prospective plans to go from point A to point B, when all of a sudden we round a corner and Bam something hits us head on that we weren’t expecting! Cancer, Financial crisis, Unexpected illness – Or even Death. I’ve felt the impact from it, haven’t you?

When you crash and burn in real life there is no reset button like a video game.

It’s painful and takes a while to recover.

Jan Berry was in a coma for two months, I can relate. After my last husband died of cancer life was a blur. But the pain doesn’t end there. Recuperating is a hard climb out of the rubble. Often times we are scarred by effects of the storm. We get up, shake it off, pretending everything is okay and try to return to normal.

It was a rocky and slow climb back for Jan and Dean. Eventually they went back on the road, toured with the Beach Boys and ended up on records and radios everywhere,

If we are in a healthy place it can still be a slow climb for any of us.

But if we aren’t, this isn’t the time to ignore the obvious.

First of all we have to acknowledge what the wreck actually was – death, illness, heartbreak?

Second, tend to your wound. You would never ignore a third degree burn if you got one, you would get help. Seeking help for where you are hurting is actually healthy. Unfortunately, there is a stigma if the pain is internal and not physical.

So, if you are hurting- seek healing!

Finally, you were never meant to lie in a heap – as you begin to heal you will discover a new, stronger you.

Unexpected trials and tragedies can make it difficult for us to simply “dust ourselves off” and get our lives back on track. But eventually we are able to rise again!

I can’t help but think of the legendary Phoenix rising from the flames. I can only imagine that what tried to take you out of the game will only serve as fuel to help you soar. What an inspiration for all of us, no matter how hard life tries to take us out we can always rise once more.